TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT April 3, 1942

During World War II, Japanese forces began their final assault on Bataan against American and Filipino troops who surrendered six days later; the capitulation was followed by the notorious Bataan Death March.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1860

The legendary Pony Express began carrying mail between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. (The delivery system lasted only 18 months before giving way to the transcontinental telegraph.)

1882

Outlaw Jesse James was shot to death in St. Joseph, Missouri, by Robert Ford, a member of James’ gang.

1948

President Harry S. Truman signed the Marshall Plan, designed to help European allies rebuild after World War II and resist communism.

In 1965

The United States launched the SNAP-10A nuclear power system into Earth orbit; it was the first nuclear reactor sent into space.

1968

The day before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “mountaintop” speech.

1996

Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested at his remote Montana cabin.